Control Yuan impeaches suspended county commissioner for alleged graft

Staff writer, with CNA

Thu, Sep 12, 2013 - Page 4

Suspended Nantou County Commissioner Lee Chao-ching (李朝卿) was impeached by the Control Yuan on Tuesday over allegations of corruption.

The move to impeach Lee, who is accused of taking kickbacks mainly in relation to projects including post-disaster reconstruction of roads and bridges, and procurement contracts for a national sports meeting, came after 11 out of 12 Control Yuan members voted in favor of impeachment.

Control Yuan member Chen Yung-hsiang (陳永祥) said an investigation was launched after the 63-year-old county commissioner was indicted in March on charges of taking kickbacks amounting to NT$31 million (US$1.06 million) for up to 117 construction projects in the central county.

Lee and four other county government officials were suspected of involvement in seven major corruption cases, Chen said.

A construction company set up by one of Lee’s relatives is suspected of collecting the bribe money, he said.

Huang Rong-teh, the head of Nantou’s public works department who allegedly divided up the bribes and coordinated the bribes with the contractors, as well as Lee’s secretary, Chang Chih-yi (張誌誼), who was suspected of rigging the tenders to allow specified contractors to win, were also impeached.

Lee, who became head of the county government in 2005 and was re-elected to a second four-year term in 2009, was suspended on Nov. 30 last year.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Ming-chen (林明溱) condemned the Control Yuan’s impeachment decision, saying that Lee’s corruption case has not been completed.

He said that former Nantou commissioner Peng Pai-hsien (彭百顯), who was charged with corruption over several reconstruction projects after the earthquake of Sept. 21, 1999, was found not guilty after the lawsuit against him dragged on for more than 10 years.